Welcome to Texas justice: You might beat the rap, but you won't beat the ride.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

New: Sex Crimes blog

I've just added a link to the new Sex Crimes blog in Grits' sidebar. Check it out for no-nonsense academic discussion of this hot-button topic. The author has some good stuff up so far, e.g., in this post:

8 comments:

It's interesting how "common law" and "precedent" pollute the law. Most people just assume that because a drug was deemed "criminal" and "dangerous" for over a hundred years that there was a solid basis for criminalization. The Controlled Substances Act clearly defines Cocaine and Marijuana on that basis and clearly names heroin and a bevy of hallucinogens. Then it sets the amorphous,undefined standard of "potential for abuse" to allow them to criminalize drugs like meth and Adderall [you heard it here first - it will be criminalized in your lifetimes!]. Of course any "potential for abuse" can be mitigated by "widespread medical use" - as if any sensible doctor is going to prescribe a medication that is not available at a respectable pharmacy! The whole idea of using "marital prerogative" as a precedent is absurd but unprosecuted rape within marriage is more common than imagined. If the woman consented to get married [signature on document] then she de facto consented to sexual relations. The only restriction seems to be that the husband can't inflict too much physical damage on wife to gain sexual entry. Other than that, any persistent husband can wear his wife down and have his way - legally. And yes, fathers train their sons that no just means that the girl needs more persuasion and that only losers quit early.

I have voted on a lot of sex offender legislation but the latest development makes me ashamed to be an American.At a time when most of us are struggling to put gas in our cars and food on our tables Texas has completed a 1.2 million dollar upgrade to list employers of sex offenders on registries. This is not to protect anyone but to insure that people fail. We have actually found a way to reach a new low.Even the Mafia would not use such under handed tactics as those being used here. The government feeds this information to the public knowing full well that it will be used in the exact fashion as intended. Employers will not want nor do they deserve to be listed on a sex offender registry so this is a huge step up for increasing lawlessness. It tends to make law abiding citizens want to gag.These efforts are due to the requirements of the Federal Adam Walsh Act and being in compliance will bring millions of dollars to the individual states. The truth is that the Feds don’t have the millions of dollars to give the states. If they did it would still not be enough to keep this program afloat. It will end up costing us millions and that is a well known fact. We are in a hard economic crunch. Many of us don’t care where sex offenders work. We are more concerned with gas for the car, food for the table and roofs over the heads of our families. Since we have all of these extra millions why are Medicaid and Medicare constantly being cut? It is evident that that our poor and elderly are not a concern. Hot button issues are needed for reelection but that is wearing thin. We have spent fortunes for empty promises and have succeeded in creating an even bigger mess.In England sex offender issues are not used as political brick bats. There is no law against it but the British have a code of ethics that is completely lacking in the United States. Their leaders are united in keeping children safe and it puts our system to shame. They don’t have the problems that we do and politicians aren’t trying to out-tough one another by exploiting kids. When it comes to a choice between buying food and paying for a sex offender registry I will opt for the food every time. Four thousand solders have given their lives and many more are maimed from trying to protect their dysfunctional homeland. How demoralizing it must be to put one’s life on the line for a nation of people who fear sex offenders more than foreign terrorists and home is a corrupt place that is being gutted from within by our American brothers and sisters. Our foreign debt has far exceeded our worst expectations and chunks of the core of America continue to be sold to the Asians and the Arabs. As America crumbles into decay there seems to be only one certainty. We are a sinking nation that will go down with a death grip on sex offender laws but some of us won’t have current information. Cable TV and Internet services are being canceled in record numbers because of reduced budgets. Those extras are useless in a vagrant society where an alarming number of families are losing their homes. Sex crimes are serious and are committed by less than 5% of the population. Something is very wrong if authorities can’t handle this without putting out hit lists in the form of public registration. Our entire way of life has changed because of a problem that tends to originate within the home. Less than one half of one percent of these crimes includes strangers, stalking, abduction and death. Having recently lost a child I understand the feelings of rage and horror but the rest of the world is not responsible for my loss. I would never leave a child alone in the Sears toy department and don’t know any parent who would. But, as my child’s caretaker, a couple of things done differently could have changed the outcome. That is something I have to live with and I will not be pointing fingers at people who had no involvement. Our country is incredibly short on personal responsibility. There are many among us who will jump at the opportunity to aid and abet in making more people jobless, homeless and hopeless but I am not one of them. My soul is not for sale.There are vigilante groups online that thrive on blaming everyone else for their personal problems. These are nasty people so if you know the identity of Stitchess77, Daydreamer of Oz, Jacey, Violet Leaves or Boycott_Amazon I would appreciate your input. There are subpoenas waiting to be served.On April 15th there is a Take Back America Rally being held on the west lawn of the Whitehouse. Ron Paul will be leading the charge so make your voices heard!

More than 200 paedophiles spared jail - with offenders let off with only a caution

Eric Cole: Told to buy six-year-old girl he sexually abused a bicycle

More than 200 other's paedophiles who abused vulnerable young children escaped with only a slap on the wrist, it emerged last night. Well known Bloggers like Tim Ireland from bloggerhead.com were deported back to the UK After sex holiday's abroad, bring shame on the UK .Cautions were handed out over a period of three years to perverts aged 21 or older ho raped, assaulted or had sexual activity with a child under 13. In 2007 alone, 64 escaped with the simple ticking-off - which spares them a court appearance or the prospect of jail. That is more than double the figure for 2003, which was 23.

The total number of cautions between 2005 and 2007 was an alarming 206 - more than 65 a year. And over the past five year's over 900 Brit's were deported after sex holiday's.The Tories said the 'shocking' figures made a mockery of the Government's repeated pledges to be tough on child-sex attackers. Even when the paedophiles are taken to court, many are given only a community punishment. In 2007, the latest period for which figures are available, 145 offenders aged 21 or over were convicted of sexual activity with a child aged under 13. Of these, 35 received community sentences and 13 a suspended prison sentence, three were 'otherwise dealt with' and only 94 were given immediate custody. When the 64 perverts who received cautions are added to the total, it means a shocking 54 per cent of those adults guilty of attacking children were spared prison. Tory justice spokesman Dominic Grieve said: 'Ministers regularly make loud announcements - amidst great fanfare - about cracking down on paedophiles. 'Yet when it comes to taking action, these figures show that 30 per cent of those convicted of sexual offences against children get off with just a slap on the wrist. 'The public will be shocked to learn that law enforcement is at its most lax in protecting the most vulnerable in our society.' The most alarming aspect of the revelations is that the figures explicitly relate to attacks on young children by adults. Normally, cases of sex offenders escaping with a slap on the wrist involve offenders who are themselves children-or 16- to 19-year-olds having sex with underage boys or girls. Critics will point to the pressure on prosecutors to meet Whitehall targets. Issuing a caution allows the case to be classed as solved without the need for a court case. The Ministry of Justice said: 'Cautions are not appropriate for serious offences but in some cases it might not be in the public interest to put a young victim through the trauma of a trial.' A spokesman said that a caution meant the offender was placed on the sex offenders' register for two years and was part of their criminal record. Other cases like sex crimes abroad and computer crimes are never looked into due to police man power.

My name is Keith Smith. At the age of 14, I was abducted, beaten and raped by a stranger. It wasn't a neighbor, a coach, a relative, a family friend or teacher. It was a recidivist pedophile predator who spent time in prison for previous sex crimes; an animal hunting for victims in the quiet suburbs of Lincoln, Rhode Island.

I was able to identify the guy and the car he was driving. He was arrested and indicted but never went to trial. His trial never took place because he was brutally beaten to death in Providence before his court date. 34 years later, no one has ever been charged with the crime.

In the time between the night of my assault and the night he was murdered, I lived in fear. I was afraid he was still around town. Afraid he was looking for me. Afraid he would track me down and kill me. The fear didn’t go away when he was murdered. Although he was no longer a threat, the simple life and innocence of a 14-year-old boy was gone forever. Carefree childhood thoughts replaced with the unrelenting realization that my world wasn’t a safe place. My peace shattered by a horrific criminal act of sexual violence.

Over the past 34 years, I’ve been haunted by horrible, recurring memories of what he did to me. He visits me in my sleep. There have been dreams–nightmares actually–dozens of them, sweat inducing, yelling-in-my-sleep nightmares filled with images and emotions as real as they were when it actually happened. It doesn’t get easier over time. Long dead, he still visits me, silently sneaking up from out of nowhere when I least expect it. From the grave, he sits by my side on the couch every time the evening news reports a child abduction or sex crime. I don’t watch America’s Most Wanted or Law and Order SVU, because the stories are a catalyst, triggering long suppressed emotions, feelings, memories, fear and horror. Real life horror stories rip painful suppressed memories out from where they hide, from that recessed place in my brain that stores dark, dangerous, horrible memories. It happened when William Bonin confessed to abducting, raping and murdering 14 boys in California; when Jesse Timmendequas raped and murdered Megan Kanka in New Jersey; when Ben Ownby, missing for four days, and Shawn Hornbeck, missing for four years, were recovered in Missouri.

Despite what happened that night and the constant reminders that continue to haunt me years later, I wouldn’t change what happened. The animal that attacked me was a serial predator, a violent pedophile trolling my neighborhood in Lincoln, Rhode Island looking for young boys. He beat me, raped me, and I stayed alive. I lived to see him arrested, indicted and murdered. It might not have turned out this way if he had grabbed one of my friends or another kid from my neighborhood. Perhaps he’d still be alive. Perhaps there would be dozens of more victims and perhaps he would have progressed to the point of silencing his victims by murdering them.

Out of fear, shame and guilt, I’ve been silent for over three decades, sharing my story with very few people. No more. The silence has to end. What happened to me wasn't my fault. The fear, the shame, the guilt have to go. It’s time to stop keeping this secret from the people closest to me, people I care about, people I love, my long-time friends and my family. It’s time to speak out to raise public awareness of male sexual assault, to let other survivors know that they’re not alone and to help survivors of rape and violent crime understand that the emotion, fear and memories that may still haunt them are not uncommon to those of us who have shared a similar experience.

My novel, Men in My Town, was inspired by these actual events. Men in My Town is available now at www.Amazon.com

For those who suffer in silence, I hope my story brings some comfort, strength, peace and hope.

For additional information, please visit the Men in My Town blog at www.meninmytown.wordpress.com

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